Last Christmas, I had the pleasure of visiting the Licor Beirão distillery and getting to know how this traditional drink is made. The last stop on my visit was the gift shop and I didn’t leave empty-handed…
In my bag, were a couple of bottles of Licor Beirão, some mini-bottles (which I’m saving for a special occasion), and some bar equipment: a muddler, bar spoon, double jigger, citrus press, and even an ice scoop! Of course, none of that equipment would be complete without the official Licor Beirão cocktail recipe book. Now that I had all these tools and the magic ingredient (the Licor Beirão), all I needed was to get some friends together for a Licor Beirão cocktail party!
I had a few American friends over and none of them had ever tasted Licor Beirão before. We had a vote and decided to make Morangão cocktails. This is a variation on a Caipirão, which I previously posted about. This recipe for Morangãos can be found in the recipe book, but I’m also sharing it with you here.
Ingredients for 1 Morangão:
60 ml (2 oz) of Licor Beirão
40 ml (1.35 oz) of lemon juice
6 Strawberries
Crushed ice
Instructions:
Add the strawberries and lemon juice together in a shaker. Use the muddler to mash up the strawberries. Fill the rest of the shaker with crushed ice and add in the Licor Beirão. Shake well and pour into a glass.
*Catarina’s addition: add a strawberry on the glass for extra vitamins and a little more visual impact.
Everyone loved this refreshing cocktail (which is perfect for spring and summer) and were curious to know more about the Portuguese drink used in it. They took turns smelling the contents of the bottle and, as there were a few “ooooh”s and “oh, yum”s, I decided they were ready to take their Licor Beirão education to the next level. I showed them my favorite way of enjoying it: with plenty of rocks and an orange peel. It’s fragrant, sweet and incredibly easy to slowly sip on. That also went down a treat!
If you love to make a good cocktail, I can recommend the Licor Beirão cocktail recipe book, which has dozens of recipes created by bartenders at prestigious bars in several countries. You can find this recipe book in their online shop, along with lots of other goodies. Very importantly: after you make the cocktails, don’t forget to toast like a Portuguese person by saying tchim tchim, (pronounced “cheeng cheeng”)!
